Phases of the accompaniment

In the sketching of the accompaniment for Mutability there have been a few phases through which the thematic ideas have gone. The sketch on the left contains examples of such phases.  (Click on image to enlarge)  Example 1 illustrates the basic, almost primitive gesture.  This is a two-beat quintuplet gesture that was to be transformed in many different ways.  I had initially chose the quintuplet gesture because the word "mutability" is a five-syllable word.  As you will see the quintuplet gesture is no longer the base for the accompaniment; however the number five will remain prevalent.

Example 2 shows the second phase of the accompaniment.  Here is the quintuplet gesture is replaced by two sets of triplets.  My intent here was to create a gesture that floats to the top and then tumbles down.  This is the phase in which I did the most experimentation.  Because of my amazing piano skills (please note the sarcasm) I entered this gesture into Finale.  From there I varied it through transposition and interval adjustment in order to try and find the sound I was looking for.  A couple of examples of the variations are included in example 3.

The fourth example includes the current state of the gesture.  After I had found the harmonic language I wanted, I decided to cut the tumbling aspect of the gesture.  I started to think that this last part of the gesture was too final.  It brings the gesture to a point of repose in the middle of the phrase.  This did not allow for the fluidity which I desired.  After settling on this I created two secondary gestures as contrasting ideas.  These are shown in examples 5 and 6.  From there, I assembled these gestures to create the introduction for the song.

All of the gestures in the introduction will be utilized as primary gestures for each stanza.  The "floating" gesture is used with stanza one.  The secondary gesture in example 5 will be used in stanza two.  The one in example 6 will be used in the third stanza, probably along with the "floating" gesture (not sure yet).  The fourth and final stanza will use a combination of all three gestures, possibly in a similar fashion to the introduction.